Festival year 1969

The Pori Culture board and the Pori Artist Association joined forces and produced an arts event, which was taken into the program of the festival. Another new event was added when the Pori Youth board produced a free concert for young people.

The streets were filled with young people that came from all around Finland and even from other countries. The liberation in attitude and behavior which had started in the beginning of the decade was noticeable: “Young people dressed peculiarly were carrying bundles, seeking friends and reserving park benches to sleep upon. A Negro enjoying ice-cream was no source of wonder.” (Satakunnan Kansa on July 18th, 1969)

Though gaining more audience was a good thing for the festival it also caused some problems because the only way to reach Kirjurinluoto Island, which was the main venue of the festival, was by boat and it took a long time to transport everybody across the river. This caused lining up which took several hours and some of the less fortunate ones arrived on the island after the concert had already started.